The Restoration of Balance
by InMemorium
Summary: When Harry dies in the Forbidden Forest, he goes to the In Between, where he meets one of his long-lost ancestors. There, he learns of the manipulations of his life as a child, and is trained to prevent that from happening again. Sent back to his eleventh birthday, what will Harry do now that he has the opportunity to be free, and how much will the world change because of it?


**Hogwarts Forbidden Forest- 19:00, 26 May, 1998**

As Harry walked into the forest, he reflected on his life. He was seething because of Dumbledore's almost constant lack of information. He had refused to share the prophecy until after Sirius's death. He had refused to tell Harry of any of his suspicions of what might have allowed Voldemort to survive the curse the night his parents were killed. And most of all, Harry was pissed that Dumbledore had not told Harry that he was an accidental horcrux. Despite this, Harry knew that he had to sacrifice his own life to save those of his friends. The broken heart he had suffered not an hour before was fading into the background of the whirlwind of emotions he was feeling. He was in love with Hermione Granger, and had been since their fourth year, when she had been the only person to stand at his side and help him through the tournament. He reached a clearing, and pulled out the snitch.

"I am ready to die," he said, and pressed the snitch to his lips. The snitch opened, and the Resurrection Stone came out. As he took the Stone into his hand, in the Cosmos, many different entities cheered, for they knew that without the Stone, Harry would be going to his death for nothing. With the Stone, Harry had become the Master of Death, so he would survive the Killing Curse. His parents and pseudo-uncles came out of the Stone when he turned it, and after a brief conversation, he let the Stone drop. He continued walking, and followed Yaxley and Dolohov back to their lord's lair. He walked into view, and Voldemort slowly walked forward. He cast the Killing Curse, and Harry steeled himself for death.

**In Between:**

"Welcome, grandson," said a voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

"Where am I?" Harry asked.

"You are In Between. You are neither dead nor alive. You were not supposed to die at this time. There was no horcrux within you. The scar and the connection to the Dark Lord were both side effects of the Killing Curse you survived as a child. The horcrux was merely a way for Dumbledore's plot to come together. He submitted a will for you three weeks before he was killed. It stated that, should you die, all your properties and money would go to the Weasleys. Molly used potions on you and Hermione to keep you two from getting together. Dumbledore, Molly Weasley, Umbitch-I mean Umbridge, and Ex-Minister Fudge have been stealing from your vaults since Halloween of 1981. You should have been made the Head of the Moste Ancient and Moste Noble House of Potter on your eleventh birthday. This was withheld from you by the same three that stole from you." The voice continued as a man slowly formed out of the mist. By the time he finished speaking, he had fully formed.

"Who are you?" Harry asked in a quaking voice.

"I am Myrddin Ambrosius Emrys, otherwise known as Merlin. I am also your grandfather several generations back on your father's side." The now identified Merlin said.

"So I am related to you?" Harry said.

"Yes, as well as being directly descended from Ignotus Peverell, making you heir to the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Peverell. You have several other noteworthy ancestors, but if you want to find out who those are, you will need to go back. You have that choice, you know," Merlin said.

"You mean I can go back? How far can I go, and how much can I change?"

"I can send you all the way back to the day that you were born. However, I think it would be better if I only sent you back to your eleventh birthday. I and your parents will train you and better prepare you to face the world and defeat Voldemort. You were set up to die, and we will give you enough information and knowledge that you will be able to completely overwhelm the Dark Lord and any dozen of his Death Eaters. We will then send you back to your eleventh birthday and give you the ability to speak the goblin tongue, which will increase their respect for you in leaps and bounds. When you get there, request an heir test and a special abilities test; you should also get an audit run on the Potter vaults to stop the theft. Do you agree grandson?" Merlin explained.

"Of course I want to do this! Let's get started now, so I can get back as soon as possible. How long will I be here?" Harry exclaimed.

"You'll be here for around 10 years, and then we will send you back. Come with me and we will meet your parents."

Harry took Merlin's hand, and was guided to a door that suddenly appeared on the back wall. Once through the door, Harry met his parents and began learning. After 5 years, on a special test his parents set up, Harry was able to defeat Voldemort and 10 of his Death Eaters. By the end of his time spent learning, Harry was able to take on 18 simulated Death Eaters and win.

During his final conversation with his parents, Harry was given a few more tasks to complete when he returned to the land of the living. He was told that he needed to show the Emrys ring he would be given by Merlin to the teller Hagrid went to. After that, he needed to request a meeting with Ragnok, leader of the goblin clan. That would be where he requested the heir test, abilities test, and audit. Harry would need to avoid Ronald and Ginevra, since they were the two that fed him and Hermione love potions. Harry would also need to meet with Madam Bones, to arrange for Sirius to get a trial and see if he could find a way to convince Ragnok to make Harry a ward of the goblins. It would likely occur after Ragnok was informed of the time travel, and Ragnok would leap on the opportunity to try Dumb-as-a-dork, as Merlin called him, Potions Princess Molly, Umbitch, and Worst-Minister-Ever Fudge for theft and attempted line theft. The second charge, if they were convicted of it, would mean a lifetime of serving in the goblin mines shoveling dragon shit.

After that happened, Harry would be able to go into the goblin time chamber to get the damage done to him by Vernon and Petunia reversed and fixed. They would spend years in the mines for abuse if they were convicted. Anything else that happened would be unable to be planned as the first directions would completely alter any knowledge of future events that Harry retained. With one last set of tearful hugs and goodbyes, Harry lay down, closed his, and felt like he dropped into freefall.

**Shack on the Rock- Midnight, 31 July, 1991**

Harry sat bolt upright as the first boom rattled through the rickety shack. The second one brought Vernon and Petunia down with a shotgun in Vernon's hand. The third boom split the door from its hinges, and it fell with a crash. Vernon began shaking as the 10-foot tall gamekeeper walked through the door.

"Sorry 'bout tha'," the gigantic man said.

Vernon said in a shaky voice, "I demand you leave at once, sir. You are breaking and entering."

"Ah budge up Dursley yeh great prune," the unknown man said in a menacing voice.

"Uh… Sir, who exactly are you?" Harry said, feigning fear and curiosity.

"Oh sorry, Harry. Me name is Hagrid, Rubeus Hagrid. I'm the keeper of the keys and grounds at Hogwarts. Yeh'll know all 'bout Hogwarts, I 'spect." The man said.

"Err… Not really, no. I've never heard of anything called Hogwarts. Is it a… mental institution? I mean, my aunt and uncle always call me freak or boy, mostly freak, so I tend to think I'm kinda crazy. So did you come to take me to this place?" Harry asked innocently.

Hagrid looked murderous. "You two don't call Harry by his name? And what the hell have you been telling him that makes him think he's insane?"

"Oh that's not all they do. If anything funny happens around me, I get beaten and thrown into my cupboard. And by anything funny, I mean that if little Dudley over there just trips and falls, I get blamed and beaten, then thrown headfirst into my cupboard. The littlest things result in awful beatings. I do not call that place home, nor will I ever. While those three pigs over there may be my relatives, they are not my family." Harry said gleefully. As he continued, Hagrid's eyes darkened, and the Dursley's faces paled.

"Well then, Harry, I think it best we get off this rock before I do something I'll regret later. Just so yeh know, you lot, I was there when Dumbledore dropped this lad off 10 years ago. He'll be pissed off about this. While he wanted Harry safe-"

"What are you talking about, Hagrid? I've seen adults dressed strangely standing around outside #4. It seems more like they were watching me and making sure I stayed there than trying to keep me safe. In fact, I'm pretty sure I heard someone say something like _crescere__irascibilem_. I looked that up, and when translated from Latin to English, it means increase aggression. It sounded like whoever that was wanted me to be beaten."

"Erm… Okay, Harry, what did the voice sound like?"

"It sounded like a slightly wheezy older gentleman. I caught a sight of him before he disappeared, and he had on these disgusting purple robes and had long silvery hair. Do you know him?"

"That sounds like Dumbledore! Are you sure he was the one who cast that?"

"Yes, Hagrid, I am positive that is who cast it. Why?"

"Because, that means that I will have to change my plans. My orders were to take you to Diagon Alley and report back to Dumbledore after dropping you back off at Privet Drive. But if Dumbledore was the one who did that, I'll take you to Diagon Alley, take care of something that Dumbledore wanted, and leave. You can do whatever you want to do there. How does that sound?"

Harry thought it over. "I think it might also be a good idea to tell him that Gringotts told you to tell him to go to the bank to talk to his account manager when you next see him. I want him to pay for what he did, and Gringotts will do the best job. What do you think about that?"

Hagrid immediately agreed. They left not long after, and Harry used some of the wandless magic he had been taught by Merlin to speed up the boat. By the time they reached the other side of the lake, Harry suggested that he and Hagrid take a quick and easy way to avoid being soaked. Hagrid almost immediately agreed. After Hagrid promised not to tell anybody about what Harry did, Harry apparated both of them directly to the Leaky Cauldron. Due to the time, Harry and Hagrid decided to spend the night at the slightly run-down inn, before going to Gringotts the next day.

When they woke up, Harry and Hagrid went downstairs and got a large breakfast from Tome, the innkeeper. After they had finished their meal, Harry and Hagrid went outside and through the arch into Diagon Alley. They went straight to Gringotts, where they got into line to wait for a teller. When they reached the front of the line, Harry allowed the ring Merlin had given him to be visible. The teller took one look at the ring and looked like he had a heart attack. He then jumped off of his chair and sprinted out of the lobby.


End file.
